Who are digital nomads, how to become one of them and pros and cons of this lifestyle.

I was looking for some tutorials about entity framework and I came across some interesting vlog. It was a vlog of Chris, who is a programmer, freelancer and works in Thailand like many others digital nomads. If you haven’t heard this term ever before, keep reading. In this post I explain who they are, how to join to the society and present you my subjective list of pros and cons of this lifestyle. This post isn’t based on my personal experience, but relies on digital nomads stories found on YouTube and their blogs.

Digital Nomads…

Basically digital nomad is a person who work and travel at the same time. Most of them doesn’t have office, so they are working from coworking spaces, cafes, hotel rooms or apartments rented for a short time (for example 2 or 3 months).

One of the most frequent chosen destination for people who implements this lifestyle is Thailand, because of low prices, reliable internet connection, breathtaking landscapes and overall good value for the money.

But it is not only one destination, being independent means that you can travel around the world and earn money wherever you want.

How does digital nomads earn money?

There are three main groups of digital nomads:

freelancers – programmers, copywriters, translators etc. looking for a job at websites like upwork.com or freelancer.com.

remote workers – people who works for single company, just like in the regular workers, but remotely 🙂

entrepreneurs – they runs their businesses, which does not require their physical presence, for example dropshipping, creating courses online or running a profitable blog.

investors with passive income – people who invested earned money in websites, real estates and now lives from ads, cooperation, rentals and so on.

Software engineers like me can choose from all of these ways, but there are two most frequently chosen.

In my opinion the easiest way to begin travel and work at the same time is to find a remote job, living in motherland, and after some time, if the cooperation goes well, move to different country and start living as a digital nomad without worries of a job.
This is the way I will try to implement in the future.

The second way, more difficult way is freelancing, where you are boss, but you’re also frequently looking for a new job. Just like remote job, it’s also good, to start doing it from home, after working hours, building a portfolio, and strong brand, getting first clients, who will recommend you to another clients. At the beginning it may be difficult to earn enough to live even in inexpensive countries, that’s why many nomads recommend to start doing it as an additional job.

Pros of being digital nomad.

Traveling everywhere, anytime you want.

Possibility for deep understanding of local culture.

No daily routine, flexible working hours.

Meeting new people, with different background and culture.

Minimalism – trying to travel a lot without a base does not allow to possess multiple goods.

Cons of being digital nomad.

May be hard to keep discipline and work as efficient as in motherland, because of variety of entertainment available on site.

Separation from family and friends.

Hard to maintain transient relations with new friends, because of frequent relocation.

Resources – worth checking out.

If you want to find out more about digital nomads, you can look at resources I prepared.